Assorted cards...with NBUS

Hello there

Sunday evening here again and I am waiting for Downton Abbey to start.  Nowt on TV but on BBC 4 there is TOTP 1970s - boy I feel old as Police and Roxanne is playing from 1979!! I was still in Comprehensive then!!!!  Sting looks a little younger too!

Tonight I wanted to share two little cards I made recently, one to send to a friend as a kinda Hello card and the other a birthday card...

I used a NBUS Tim Holtz stamp that my Buddie Kim picked up for me. I stamped it with versamark ink and embossed with WOW white embossing powder.  I blanked out the "Birthday" word to make it non-birthday-have-a-cake kinda card.  The little die heart and star die cuts are made using Snippets and a NBUS Simon Says Stamp die which I collected from Kim recently.

And here is the Birthday one.  The Smile and Enjoy die cuts are NBUS Penny Black dies from Absolutely Everything.  Gosh...Blondie!!!!  I cannot believe I remember her first time round!  Of course she is now Deborah Harry now!  The purple cards I have had forever so they are VOS.

Now I am going to hit myself with a Rhythm Stick and do myself some cocoa and look for my zimmer frame while I go down to the Snippets Playground to see if the Young Ones have cleared up after last night's bonfire!  If they haven't perhaps I will thwack them with my stick!

Have a great week everyone.

Hettie

Welcome to your New Home..

Hello there

My lickle leggie pegs are still sore but getting better.  Thank you all for your kind comments.

One of my Blogging Buddies moved recently after a looooong sale of her house and I made her and her Hubby a lickle card to welcome them into their new home...

The Birdhouses were bought from a well known auction site a loooong time ago.  I was under the impression I was buying a die only to find I was buying some die CUTS!! They have stayed in my stash since and I thought it was high time I released them.

The background papers are We R Memory Keepers that came with a scrapbook album which again have been lurking in my paper stash.  I stamped them with a Tim Holtz birdies on a wire stamp.

I punched the strips down the side using some Snippets and my EK Success punch.  A little ribbon and three cards were born.  One went off to my friend and the other two are in my box for use at a later date.  

Off to the Playground to share these cards with my Buddies and for a hug with Parsnip.  Thanks for calling by and please leave me a lickle comment so I know you been.

Hugs

Hettie

Silhouette Mat Replacing Tutorial, Home Made Stencils and Cards......

Hello Friends

Before I start I would like to thank my latest followers Denise and Princess Judy.  Thank you both for following me and I hope you enjoy the ride!  You might want to get yourselves a cuppa before reading today's post.

This is a project I was doing just before I fell ill but haven't got round to sharing it with you.  I joined an online class for stencilling - something which I have dabbled in but I don't use them a lot.  The online class is available after the class finishes so I can dip in and out of the course when I feel like (just as well as I fell ill at the start) and it is kept there ad infinitum.  

My choice of stencils is limited, hence why I don't use them an awful lot and I had a brainwave! (Yes it hurt!) I have template plastic (VOS) for creating quilting stencils.  Would it cut on my Silhouette?  Sounds simple doesn't it?  However my cutting mat for my stencil was naff not very good and I wanted to do this there and then.  Also, the mats have become very hard to source and very expensive since I first had my Silhouette.

                                    

So I took a sheet of laminating plastic and laminated it.  Took another sheet of laminating plastic and laminated it with the first laminated sheet inside it.  Are you with me?  Then I placed some masking tape down the long edges of the "mat" about 1/4" in.   

Then I took my Crafters Companion Stick and Spray Temporary glue. (We don't want it sticking there forever do we?)  Something else I bought ages ago and have not used much!  

I then sprayed the mat lightly, covering the surrounding area first, with about 5 thin coats.  I then removed the masking tape and replaced it.  These are where the wheels move the mat along the cutter, so you don't want them tacky.

To protect the mat between uses I took some freezer paper and cut a piece to fit and use it shiny side down.

Then I downloaded a design from Silhouette, placed some template plastic on the mat and watched with baited breath to see if the plastic would cut.

I need not have worried.  It cut like a hot knife through butter and the mat did it's job perfectly.  This design is called "Kite".

Here are some samples I made using just three colours of DI.

And some finished cards....

I used some Snippets of vellum, cut some tags (the snippets dictated that some of the tags are shorter than others), tied some twine and adhered them to the card using a teeny bit of glue behind the twine and another behind the butterfly.

Overall I was extremely pleased with the mat and the stencil.  So much so I went online to a very well known auction site and ordered some A4 template plastic so I could make some larger stencils.  All this came with a bonus - all the materials were already in my craft room.  I love it when two crafts collide (template plastic and freezer paper both being quilting tools).

Whilst I don't suppose Silhouette would advocate making your own mats, when they are getting like hen's teeth to get hold of then what are we supposed to do?  If you decide to try this, do so with caution.  I am no expert and will not be held responsible for any mishaps.

Thanks for calling by.  Sorry it is a little long today but I wanted to show you how I created these stencils. Please let me know what you think!

Hettie    

Happy Valentines Day my Darling

Hello There Folks!

I am back in the world of the living and hopefully Mr Chestin Fection and his buddies have gone on a hike for some time!  I am still not A1 but getting there and tomorrow I shall be going back in to the family of folks known as "work"!  Yeah I know!

I just about managed to drag my aching butt into my abandoned Craft Room on Thursday afternoon for the first time in over two weeks, to put Mr Hettie's Valentine's Day card together.  Unfortunately, not being out and about I was unable to get him a pressie too, so he had to make do with hugs and hopefully no bugs!

So here it is....

I used one of my Sweet Poppy Stencils and some Martha Stewart glitter to make the tree, having cut the background using an XCut die.  I stamped the arrows using WOW embossing powder and made a banner out of a Snippet of cardstock, doodled around the edge and added some Chit Chat stickers.  Oh yes, I also added some glossy accents to one heart and sprinkled some silver glitter on to it.  Well, it is a special anniversary for us later this year!

This I stamped on the inside of the card.  The colour is not brilliant, blame the dull weather for that!  Again I used my embossing powder of choice - WOW!

And this lovely sloppy stamp went on the right hand side inside.  

Me?  I got spoilt with porridge in bed, made with Alpro (other milks are available, but I could not have dairy milk within two hours of my antibiotics), then Mr Hettie brought me a gorgeous card, a huge Boofle and later flowers!  I fink he loves me!

Right then, off to see what is happening in the Snippets Playground as the banner was from my Snippets basket.  

Have a great week everyone!

Hettie

Ahoy There

Ahoy there Folks!

Just a quick posting today to share a card I made for a friend who I was sending some nautical papers to recently.  

I stamped my stamp onto watercolour paper using Momento Memento! ink and then coloured it in using my watercolour pencils and a water brush.

I then layered it onto mounts, all from my Snippets box and adding a Snippet of ribbon.  I assure you it was not "wavy" looking at the bottom IRL.  I was in such a hurry to send it off I had to take the picture in the evening with a flash, hence it not being very straight either. 

I know the card and contents have been received so I am able to show you here now.  Off to the Playground now to see what damage has been caused by the water gun fight!!  I hope it hasn't traumatised the Chooks seeing water guns being fired from trampolining Playmates!!

TTFN

Hettie